Tuesday, 22 September 2009

“Our position on negotiations is very clear and the unions know this. We are happy to talk to them at any stage on the basis that the unions end their strike, however they continue to take this action. We won’t hold negotiations whilst they are striking.

“We continually held meetings with the unions right up until the strike was called and we still have 18 months of pay protection to run, so I do not understand why the unions are persisting with this action.

“We feel we had put forward some legitimate proposals, in line with equal pay legislation, around modernisation and ways to mitigate the pay loss for some workers yet the unions continued to walk away from these negotiations.”

All the events from 11am to 2pm and there will be professional advice available, light refreshments served and local entertainment provided by local schools and groups. A range of organisations will be available to provide advice and guidance to services which aim to inform otherwise isolated hard to reach people.

There will be activities going on throughout the events but in particular there will be a presentation by East North East Homes Leeds to the Oldest Person in attendance on the day. Last year the oldest attendee was Mrs Amatt, who was 103 years old!

This year's event is all about bringing different generations together to have a friendly and informal chat and it will highlight the benefits to people of getting to know those outside of their own age group and of being active in the community where you live.

The events aim to promote positive images of ageing which will inspire people to see older age as an opportunity to take on new challenges.

East North East Homes Leeds is once again working with our partners as well as many voluntary and community organisations to challenge isolation and attitudes towards stereotypes for both young and old.

Angelena Fixter, chair of the East North East Homes Leeds board, said: "Many older people are already enjoying life to the full, and the communities they live in benefit from the wealth of their experience and knowledge gained through a life time. "However, because people are living longer, the challenges of the future mean we need to give people support to 'age with grace and dignity'. This includes helping people to remain healthy, active and independent for as long as possible so they are able to contribute to society for as long as they can. “I'm sure these events will go along way in helping us achieve this. This is about old age being celebrated not seen as a disability.”

East North East Homes Leeds has a specialist independent living team which aims to support maximum independence and life to the full.

Please contact Alison Pearce on 0800 915 1600 for more information.

Notes for editors:East North East Homes Leeds is one of three Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMO) which manage and maintain council housing on behalf of Leeds City Council. It is wholly owned by the council, which retains ownership of housing stock and sets rents.East North East Homes Leeds manages 19,000 council-owned residential properties in Boston Spa, Burmantofts, Chapel Allerton, Chapeltown, Collingham, Gipton, Halton Moor, Harehills, Linton, Meanwood, Moor Allerton, Moortown, Seacroft, and Wetherby.

Tenants, schools and community groups demonstrated their green-fingered skills when 77 gardens were entered in a garden competition in east Leeds.

The green-fingered gardeners make their little corner of Leeds more beautiful with their growing skills and, every year, council housing organisation East North East Homes Leeds sets out to find and reward the best in the area.

This year’s garden competition, run by East North East Homes Leeds (ENEHL) and Leeds in Bloom, had more than 80 entries – from council tenants to schools and community groups.

The competition, sponsored by partner organisations of ENEHL and run with Leeds in Bloom, wasn't just for experienced gardeners – people new to gardening were very much encouraged to enter. The awards were Gold, Silver, Bronze, Highly Commended and Commended awards, with an overall best in show for the garden and school awards.

Everyone entering the competition received a certificate and those with bronze, silver, gold awards and the school gardens are being invited to receive their awards at a ceremony in Leeds Civic Hall on Wednesday 23 September.

Angelena Fixter, chair of the East North East Homes Leeds board, said:"Creating beautiful gardens should be encouraged and acknowledged as they make our community a more attractive place for everyone.“It will be a fantastic event on Wednesday, celebrating the fantastic gardens we have in the ENEHL area.”

Notes to editors:East North East Homes Leeds is one of three Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMO) which manage and maintain council housing on behalf of Leeds City Council. It is wholly owned by the council, which retains ownership of housing stock and sets rents.East North East Homes Leeds manages 19,000 council-owned residential properties in Boston Spa, Burmantofts, Chapel Allerton, Chapeltown, Collingham, Gipton, Halton Moor, Harehills, Linton, Meanwood, Moor Allerton, Moortown, Seacroft, and Wetherby.

Regeneration in Leeds is to receive international attention today, when a delegation from Germany puts the city’s housing projects under the spotlight.

A delegation from Dortmund, including local government officials and several housing associations will be visiting Leeds to learn about housing projects in the city.

The group are interested to learn about the approach to affordable social housing and green developments in new housing projects. This follows an initial small visit in March 2009 when the visitors were impressed by what they saw, leading to this latest visit with a larger delegation.

The group will spend the day visiting, amongst others, the EASEL project in east Leeds, regeneration projects such as Holbeck Urban Village and the Chapeltown Harehills initiative, and the Greenhouse project in Beeston, the UK's first carbon negative residential housing development.

The visit will be followed by another incoming delegation from Sweden this October who will focus on regeneration. This group will be hearing from Leeds' experience in city development and planning and urban regeneration.

Both visits are part of ongoing work that Leeds City Council undertakes to promote the learning and sharing of good practice internationally, particularly amongst cities in Europe that face similar challenges . The exchanges allow Leeds to showcase its own innovative projects but also to learn best practice from international partners in other areas of local government work.

Councillor Les Carter, executive board member for housing, said:"We are delighted to welcome this delegation from Europe and are pleased that they are so interested in our housing projects."It's great to know that Leeds is leading the way in how it is tackling the need for more housing."It's also recognition of the hard work, ideas and innovation that Leeds has been promoting."

Dortmund and Leeds are partner cities, and this year celebrate 40 years of partnership. Leeds also has a range of exchanges with Swedish cities to share international good practice.